Drunks Wanted
This Week in Blunders – Jan. 19-25
“I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.” – Winston Churchill
“The Alcohol Industry Is Hooked on Its Heaviest Drinkers,” reads a sobering piece that The Wall Street Journal published on Tuesday.
It distills down to this: One fifth of adults account for 90% of U.S. alcohol sales.
These are men who have 15 or more drinks a week and women who have eight or more drinks.
They’re like our new Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who promised not to drink on the job as he battled allegations of alcohol abuse and the kind of sexual misconduct that often accompanies it.
Where have we heard, “I’ll quit drinking,” before? Where have we heard, “Drink Responsibly?”
The latest research declares no amount of alcohol is safe. It causes cancer, and it causes assholes.
Somewhere between 9% and 13% of C-Suite executives have issues with alcohol or substance abuse – but the numbers are likely under reported since functional alcoholics develop cleverly contrived coverup strategies.
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Psychology Today reports that people in fancy suits often get away with it:
“Senior-level executives often don't have to explain themselves, at least not right away, when addictions interfere with professional responsibilities. They also have personal assistants and other resources to cover for them, which may allow their addiction to continue unchecked for an extended period.”
Drunks and leaders have many things in common, but one of them is confidence. Somehow we all love confidence – even when it’s overconfidence.
A friend with weed
Many Americans are backing off alcohol in favor of legalized marijuana, which has dinged sales of beer, wine and spirits. But weed can lead to bad decisions, too.
On Tuesday, the feds indicted former cannabis executive Anthony Marsico, 39, of Bartlett, IL, and three of his golfing buddies, for insider trading.
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Until he was fired, Marsico worked at Chicago-based Verano, one of the largest U.S. cannabis companies. He’s accused of making $607,000 in illegal profits by trading stock in Minneapolis-based Goodness Growth Holdings Inc..
Verano had planned to acquire Goodness Growth, and Marsico allegedly knew about the deal before it was announced. (The deal has since fallen through and the companies are fighting about it.)
The indictment claims Marsico not only traded on this inside information, but tipped off country club owner Arthur Pizzello, Jr., 61, of Wayne, IL, and Marco Island, FL; Robert Quattrocchi, 63, of Schaumburg, IL; and Timothy Carey, 57, of Hanover Park, IL. All are named as co-defendants.
Marsico’s attorneys told the Chicago Tribune he’s innocent of the charges. Verano put out this statement:
“We strongly condemn the alleged actions taken by a former employee, and upon learning of the alleged conduct, fully cooperated with authorities investigating this matter.”
Smoking weed may have put these guys on the wrong fairway. Here’s some research from Golf Digest:
.A little bit of marijuana—in this case, around 18 milligrams—can help to relax muscles and calm nerves, aiding distance and overall tee-to-green performance. Consume in excess of that, however, and focus, energy, hand-eye coordination, and munchies become major impediments. In the most general terms, marijuana use on the golf course reflected our experience with alcohol: A little goes a long way, but a little too much will have you playing from the wrong fairway for the rest of the afternoon.
It’s GameOn!
GameOn, a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence startup, raised $60 million on the promise of a chatbot. Its long list of customers include professional sports leagues and top luxury brands, including the NFL and Valentino, according to its website.
On Thursday, the Justice Department announced a 25-count indictment against founder Alexander Charles Beckman, 41, and his wife Valerie Lau Beckman, 38, an attorney who did legal work for the company.
It accuses the couple of duping investors with phony bank statements and audit reports in a scheme described as “brazen and wide-ranging.” Both have pleaded not guilty to a very long list of accusations.
The couple allegedly spent more than $4.2 million of investor funds on themselves – including San Francisco homes, private schools, jewelry stores and their wedding venue.
If this is artificial intelligence at work, we might as well stick with alcohol.
Doctor, doctor, give me the news
Pfizer on Friday agreed to pay nearly $60 million to settle allegations that one of its subsidiaries paid kickbacks to doctors for prescribing the migraine drug, Nurtec ODT.
Pfizer didn’t do it, but a company it acquired for $11.6 billion in October 2022, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, allegedly did.
Biohaven allegedly paid doctors tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees under its Nurtec speaker programs. It also allegedly plied docs with meals at high-end restaurants.
“Patients deserve to know that their doctor is prescribing medications based on their doctor’s medical judgment, and not as a result of financial incentives from pharmaceutical companies,” said U.S. Attorney Trini Ross for the Western District of New York.
So does the federal government, which is going broke as it pays for about one third of the medical bills in this country. Biohaven kickbacks resulted in false claims filed to Medicare and other federal health care programs, according to the Justice Department.
In other false-healthcare-claims news, BioReference Health and OPKO Health, agreed to pay $704,349 for allegedly submitting bogus bills for blood tests.
Somehow, simply jacking prices is never enough for our healthcare industrial complex. Too many of these companies are looking for every way possible to boost profits while they bleed us dry.
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Biohaven exploit sounds much like the underlying plot to the movie, "The Fugitive." Damn that MacGregor Pharma!! This story is like the Energizer bunny...it keeps going and going and...
Excellent. Though I think it only fair to point out that the statistic of one-fifth of adults in the US being responsible for 90% of alcohol sales sounds a bit like suggesting that one-fifth of the adults are persoally BUYING alcohol in liquor stores, as oppose to bars and other venues purchasing in bulk for inventory and selling to individuals afterward.
IN other words, sure, C-suite and others executives can AFFORD to get blitzed, not just without a threat to their livelihoods, but also economically.
Now, if that 1/5 of the adults regularly CONSUME 90% of the alcohol sold, individually, that does suggest a different opioids problem...and a demographic that bears greater scrutiny. Funny, it has historically be "the working class" blamed for "excessive" drinking. Which one-fifth of society (a fifth, that's ironic) can afford 90% of alcohol sales?